Eight Things Every Parent Should Know and Do in a Custody Dispute

Approximately 41% of marriages end in divorce. Many of these marriages resulted in children. As a result, people who can't get along, turn into people who hate each other and have the perfect weapon for revenge available to them-their children. Although not all custody disputes are tools for revenge, but in many cases that can be the motivation. Many disputes are justifiable and necessary.

As these marriages end a variety of parenting arrangements are agreed to or even mandated by the court. As a paralegal I encountered them all. As a parent I participate in a combination of them. There is joint custody, split custody, shared parenting, residential parenting, and sole custody. Sole custody is where one parent has physical possession of the child and the other parent may or may not exercise visitation. Joint custody is when both parents have physical possession of the child and the child may travel back and forth living for a specified period of time in each household. Split custody occurs when one child lives with one parent and another child lives with the other parent. Shared parenting is an agreement by the parties to respect each other and consult each other on several matters of importance and can be used in conjunction with any of the other types of custody. A residential parent is the term used in shared parenting, and means that that parent is the main caregiver and the child resides in their home and their school district.